10 Awesome Movie Jobs You Had No Idea Existed
9. Pre-Visualising Marvel Movies YEARS Before They're Filmed
One of the lesser-discussed aspects of blockbuster filmmaking is pre-visualisation - or "previs" for short - which is the means through which complex, effects-driven sequences are digitally storyboarded through detailed computer animation.
Digital previs is used in practically every major tentpole film these days, though in the case of the Marvel Cinematic Universe they take it to a wholly unprecedented level.
The most prominent Hollywood previs studio, The Third Floor, has worked on the vast majority of the MCU's movies, and contrary to most directors using previs during pre-production shortly before shooting begins, Marvel movies do it far ahead of time and way more extensively.
Avengers: Endgame, for instance, while shot in the latter months of 2017 through to early 2018, had practically the entire movie, including even quieter dialogue scenes, prevised in 2016. A side-by-side comparison shows just how similar the previs was to the end result finally released three years later.
In some cases previs actually begins before the script has even been completed or a director has signed on. Previs teams are even given the freedom to experiment with their own ideas and bring them forward to the director a long, long time before filming begins.
In many ways the previs artists are perhaps the unsung heroes of the MCU, even if this style of filmmaking certainly isn't for everyone: Lucrecia Martel famously turned down directing Black Widow after learning that the action sequences were basically already taken care of.
But beyond all this, the previs team even has input on how scenes are lit and staged, and also how they play out tonally and timing-wise.
It's a little-known dream job where you get none of the credit from fans, but also none of the flak if it all goes wrong.